Kyle Shanahan and every 49ers fan had the same reaction to Ronnie Bell's dropped pass in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
With 1:08 remaining in the fourth quarter and the score tied at 24 points apiece, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy fired a 31-yard missile to his second-year wide receiver, who dropped what would have been a huge completion into Rams territory and potentially could have set up a game-winning field-goal attempt from kicker Jake Moody.
Two Targets… Two drops. Thank You Ronnie Bell pic.twitter.com/Wm6zqpxbo9
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) September 22, 2024
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Shanahan, and members of the 49ers' sideline, were in disbelief.
Look at Kyle Shanahan’s reaction after Ronnie Bell drops the ball pic.twitter.com/7F7rG8uIuB
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) September 22, 2024
Can you blame them?
In speaking to reporters after the game, Shanahan was asked if the catch was one Bell had to come down with.
San Francisco 49ers
Kyle Shanahan shares his thoughts on Ronnie Bell's big dropped pass late in the game pic.twitter.com/taGAAnCqKc
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) September 23, 2024
"Yeah, yeah. Anybody does," Shanahan said. "There's other catches in the game you want people to make and you hope it doesn't have to come down to that but Ronnie will say the same thing. He needs to make that catch but if he doesn't, he'd like to be able to overcome it and you can overcome it in other ways but we didn't."
Purdy broke down what he saw on the play and offered support to Bell after the costly dropped pass.
We all got Ronnie's back."
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) September 23, 2024
Purdy believes he could have given Bell a better ball on his late drop pic.twitter.com/MAMNDtnu3C
“[Bell] had a double move, and it was the look we wanted,” Purdy added. “He got his guy, and by the time I got to him, I figured I would just give him a chance, and I don’t know if I had enough juice on it, from where I was at in the pocket.
“Obviously, I think I could have thrown him a better ball, but he’s a young guy, and I love him. We all got Ronnie’s back, so we are going to continue to need him and build him up, and we are all in this together. It’s a team sport, so it’s not one player or one play here. It’s all of them all put together.”
Just about everything went wrong for the 49ers down the stretch and while Bell's costly drop might stand out above the rest of the mistakes, plenty were to blame for San Francisco's epic collapse on Sunday.
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